About the company
Yuga Labs is a web3 company exploring big ideas in identity, ownership, utility, and interoperability to push the crypto and NFT space forward. As The Defiant recently said, "The story of Yuga Labs is one where the improbable has become reality in the blink of an eye." Since debuting with our flagship collection Bored Ape Yacht Club in April 2021, weāve created new IP for the ape ecosystem (Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Bored Ape Kennel Club), acquired other top collections (CryptoPunks and Meebits), and pulled off successful events (ApeFest) and partnerships (Rolling Stone). And we made both web3 and gaming history ā the biggest NFT mint ever followed by a game demo with record-breaking synchronized player participation ā for our newest initiative, Otherside.
Job Summary
The Job
šCollaborate with the character modeling team to ensure avatar body, clothing, hair, weapons, accessories, and faces are compatible and interchangeable in a modular system. š rigging workflows to assemble characters and environments procedurally for both offline and runtime usage. šScript, rig, animate and maintain bone-driven facial features for characters in Maya that are runtime compatible, optimized for performance and efficiency in Unreal Engine. šDesign, build, test, and implement advanced animation rigging workflows for offline and runtime capabilities šWrite scripts and develop tools to ensure a scalable pipeline for character and environment creation in digital content applications and runtime engines. šAuthor State Machines in Animation Blueprints using animgraphs, state machines, linked animation layers, supporting Unreal Control Rigs and retargeted animations. šConsult in development of breakdowns, task lists, estimates, schedules, milestones and overall project goals as necessary; participate in project stand-ups, meetings, and reviews
Your Skills
š5+ years experience as a Technical Artist-Rigger or Technical Animator for AAA game development, directly supporting the production with rigging, scripting & tool development š2+ years experience authoring Blueprints and Animation Blueprints creating high fidelity character animation and deformation in Unreal 4/5. šStrong experience in rigging and animating facial features using procedural rigging systems such as AdvancedSkeleton5 and mGear in Maya šStrong understanding of anatomy, kinematics, deformation and facial expressions šProficiency in character customization and modular accessory systems, preferred Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) experience. šExcellent working knowledge of scripting (Maya Python/PyMEL, Unreal Python, Unreal C++ API, and PySide/PyQt GUI design experience) šExcellent problem-solving and communication skills šAbility to work collaboratively with other artists & developers šStrong attention to detail and ability to deliver high-quality work within deadlines šUp to date on the industry standard tools and systems (in Unreal Engine, Maya, Blender, Houdini, etc.) and constantly curious about promising new techniques for skeletons, facial animation methodologies, and constraints used for character animation šKnowledgeable of the real-time art production pipeline & process for different types of asset creation - especially of potential pitfalls and other risks involved with movement mechanics & deformation šFamiliarity with multi-platform performance efficiency and optimization